Journalist Mike Deeson: We Have a ‘Powerful’ New Medium

Retiring last spring as one of the longest-serving television reporters in Tampa Bay, investigative reporter Mike Deeson earned a long and impressive list of awards during his 50 years in the business. While at WTSP Channel 10, the CBS affiliate in Tampa Bay, Mr. Deeson was nominated for 40 Emmy Awards and won 12. He also earned two Edward R. Murrow Awards and was nominated for more than 50 journalism awards from the Associated Press and the Society of Professional Journalists during his prestigious career.

Part of what inspired Mr. Deeson to retire when he did was the changing landscape of journalism and the media. Where is journalism headed and what will it look like in the future? We talked about the quickly moving industry and I asked him these important questions in Part 2 of my video interview for AliveTampaBay.com.

Mike Deeson worked for WTSP TV, the CBS affiliate in Tampa Bay, for 35 years. He retired as the Senior Investigative Reporter for 10 News in March of 2017.

Mike is a 12-time-Emmy Award winning reporter who has been awarded the Silver Circle Life-Time Achievement Award from the Suncoast Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Science (NATAS), the Emmy parent organization. He was the first journalist in the Tampa Bay area to win this prestigious award. Mike has been nominated for an Emmy 40 times.

In 2015 the Society of Professional Journalists chose Mike as the Florida Journalist of the Year, the first time a broadcast journalist was given this honor.

Mike is also an eight-time winner of the Green Eyeshade Awards, the nation’s largest and oldest regional journalism contest.

He is a two-time Edward R. Murrow winner. Mike has won more than 50 awards from the Associated Press, United Press International and the Society of Professional Journalists, including being honored as the outstanding reporter in Florida four times and outstanding reporter in the Southeast

In 2015 Influence Magazine named Mike one of Florida’s top 100 Influencers. The Tampa Bay Times has described Mike as one of the last of the “bare-knuckle style” reporters in the Tampa Bay area.